How Young Americans Think About Innovation: 3 Takeaways

A survey of 16- to 25-year-old Americans shows that even Steve Jobs can't top Thomas Edison, technology replacement is moving faster than ever, and there are still plenty of obstacles to overcome to get more young people to consider science and tech careers.

Every year the Lemelson-MIT program conducts its Invention Index, a survey of Americans ages 16 to 25 to see how they feel about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and whether they see themselves as inventive people. PM talked to foundation executive director Joshua Schuler to see what jumped out from this year's results.

1. Thomas Edison Is Still the Man

Although millions of young adults have iPhones running Facebook apps, neither Apple founder Steve Jobs nor Facebook czar Mark Zuckerberg topped the list when the Lemelson-MIT survey asked who was the greatest innovator of all time. From a pool that includes both of those modern tech titans, 52 percent of respondents picked Thomas Alva Edison. (Sorry, Tesla lovers; he wasn't one of the choices.)

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The survey's respondents surely appreciate interior illumination and recorded music. But Schuler says there's probably another explanation for the Wizard of Menlo Park's strong showing—one that can be explained in a quote from inventor and First Robotics founder Dean Kamen: "You get what you celebrate." Young Americans' lives are filled with products created by modern innovators like Jobs and Zuckerberg, but the textbooks that codify history's greatest inventors tend to celebrate, well, dead people like Edison.

With his enormous catalog of patents and inventions, Edison may indeed be the greatest innovator ever. But Schuler says students and young adults might be more inclined to appreciate and go into science and tech careers if they recognize the brilliance of more modern minds. His suggestion: "Why not do current events as part of science class?" As much as 16- to 25-year-old Americans rely on Facebook, he says, they probably don't think about the algorithms that make it possible, all of which are based upon STEM. And the news is filled with hotly contested issues, from stem cells to the Stop Online Piracy Act, that are rooted in science and tech.

2. We Just Got These Tablets, And Now They're Going Away

One question the Lemelson-MIT survey asks every year is what technologies young people think will become obsolete in the near future (this year's survey asked them to consider the world 15 years from now). If you need any indictor of the accelerating pace of technology, Schuler says, you need look no further than the poll results. Ten years ago, he says, respondents tended to pick items like cars and TVs—products that had been around for many decades. This year's top picks to disappear by the mid-2020s include many items that came into the American mainstream only recently.

MP3 players at 36 percent and DVR at 31 percent topped the list. Indeed, those seem like logical choices to disappear, as smartphones have taken over for stand-alone music players and smart TVs and other trends may do away with DVR. But the other top contenders include text messages (25 percent), social media (24), tablets (16), and smartphones themselves (12). "You're now used to this rapid replacement of technology," Schuler says.

3. Too Many Roadblocks

Two big points in this year's survey stopped Schuler cold when he read them. First, 60 percent of respondents could name a reason not to go into a science and tech field. "They're daunted by something," he says, whether it's that the path through school seems too hard, they don't know anybody in those fields to look up to, or another reason. Secondly, Schuler says, nearly a third said they had little to no experience building anything hands-on, whether it's a digital product like a website or a physical project like piecing together circuit. "These two are connected pretty strongly," he says. Building cultivates DIY skills and kick-starts a person's interest in making things.

Those numbers would probably alarm President Obama, who spent a chunk of last night's State of the Union address hammering the need to enhance American STEM education as a means to boost the economy. Schuler says he was grateful that Obama made such a high-profile argument. "STEM is the foundation of technology, invention, and innovation," he says.

But, Schuler says, it's critical to remember that strengthening American STEM education isn't just about churning out more Ph.D.s. Vocational-technology schools, junior colleges, and other institutions must help students reach their inventive potential, he says. "We need more of the bulk of the U.S. population appreciating STEM and thinking in creative ways."